

A selection of creatures revealed through inventorying one cubic foot from Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park, New York City. © David Liittschwager
Life in One Cubic Foot
October 14, 2023–January 7, 2024

Cyerce nigricans, Sacaglossan sea slug, Lighthouse Reef, Moorea, French Polynesia.
© David Liittschwager
Life in One Cubic Foot is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

How much biodiversity exists in your backyard? How about at your favorite park, the beach, the bus stop, or places you go every day?
From Central Park to South African shrubland to a coral reef in the South Pacific, Life in One Cubic Foot reveals the diversity of nature found using biocubes—one-cubic-foot frames used to survey the animals and plants living in an ecosystem.
The exhibition features the research of Smithsonian scientists and photographer David Liittschwager as they discover what a cubic foot of land or water reveals about the diversity of life on the planet.
Biodiversity in Pittsburgh and our region
In addition to exploring life through the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to participate in citizen science and uncover the biodiversity in their backyard by creating and monitoring a biocube.
A biocube in place at the Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park, New York City.
© David Liittschwager
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